Friday, August 04, 2006

WSOP Main Event Day 3

Everyone involved with the WSOP main event had a rare day off. In the last 35 or so hours, I managed to get some well-needed sleep after I passed out at a Pai Gow table around 3am at the Gold Coast around from sheer exhaustion. The last time I played Pai Gow with Otis, he was betting $800 a hand and we ended up doing that awful prop bet where I lost $400 after he ate two Keno crayons. We did some prop betting before I passed out. The chips at the Gold Coast have pictures of famous rodeo stars. The have images of cowboys on most of them. I found a rare rodeo clown. I'd take two chips... one cowboy and one clown. I'd yell out, "Yo, Otis... Clown or Cowboy?"

I'd turn over the chips and it mix up. He'd point to one and yell... "Cowboy!"

I'd flip it over and it would be the clown. I won that series of prop bets, going 3 for 4.

"I lose so much at Clown or Cowboy. I'm not any good at it," a dejected Otis declared. "I'm horrible at coinflips."

Marv Albert would call today "crunch time." If the remaining players survive 286 more bust outs, they will be guaranteed at least 14K. For online qualifiers who bought in for a hundred bucks and under, that's a major score. For those who bought in directly, this is the breaking even point. The handful of pros left are looking for validation and enough media coverage to keep their sponsors happy. The broke degenerates in the field are seeking to boost their bankrolls or cover their sports betting, blackjack, or horse track loses.

People do funny things when money is on the line. We'll see who cracks under the pressure or who steps up and plays the best poker of their lives. We'll also see if the day off affected players negatively... because they had too much time to think about today. Or if the time away from the tables gave them a chance to regroup and focus.

Small stacks like Ryan K. are looking to double up early. Medium stacks are looking to hold on and wait the rush towards the money. And big stacks like Dimitri Nobles are looking to bully their tables and take advantage of the tentative and passive play as the bubble approaches.

"I love bubble time," is one of my favorite poker quotes from Otis. He's right, this is the most exciting time in a poker tournament. My least favorite is the TV bubble. That's when play slows to a snail's pace and I can read several hundred pages of Dostoevesky while waiting for one player to bust out.

I have no idea what to expect today. Play has been going much faster than even Harrah's anticipated. Some media reps are betting on the bubble breaking before dinner. I'm guessing just after dinner. But no one knows for sure.

I have 1% of Ryan K. so I'm rooting for him to double up. He's an excellent short stack player. With two final tables to go at one of the LAPC events, he entered as the shortstack and won the entire thing. He knows what he needs to do along with all the other short stacks. I guess fate/luck/destiny and the turn of the cards is out of the player's hands as the burden falls upon the shoulders of the dozens of disgruntled dealers on the floor.

Today is the first official day of "intense" media restrictions. I have a red badge and will only be allowed on the floor for twenty minutes at a time. It's hard to say how in depth my coverage will be, including photos. I'll do my best like I've been doing and I'll be slanting coverage towards the bloggers like Tusacloosa Johnny, Ryan K., Matt Maroon, and my buddy from NYC Stormy.

12:30pm... I ran out to the floor to snag some quick photos before things got tense between the red badges and tge yellow badges. Joe Hcahem joked with me while I was shootong him. "Pauly, Make sure you don't publish the one of me picking my nose!" he joked. I found Stormy, Ryan, and Johnny. Nothing to report.

12:45pm... Jesus was moved to Ryan's table.

1:00pm... WSOP Photo Dump: Click on the photos to see an enlarged view.

Tuscaloosa Johnny

Ryan K.

Maroon scoops a pot

Birds on the rail

Barny, CJ, and Melissa Hayden

Dimitri's stack

Dimitri Nobles - Chipleader

1:05pm... Players on a break. Johnny took a bad beat when he flopped two pair and got sucked ouyt on. He has 86.5K. Ryan has 33K. And Joe Hachem is up to $150K. Dimitri Nobles is playing every hand, because he can. He's got $560K.

1:15pm... Bouncin Round the Media Room: Tim Lavalli walked upto me and said, "The new media room is now located in Pavillion 11... at the Wynn Casino." There's never a dull moment in the media room.

1:30pm... Ryan tripled up. He has 90K. I walked over just as he was stacking up his chips. He had 3.5 stacks of yellows (about 70K). "Don't ask," he said. He cracked A-A and Q-Q with K-10. Tom McEvoy moved all in preflop against a raiser. His opponent folded. McEvoy is up to 66K.

1:35pm... Irish Update: Joe "The Show" O'Neill raised Phil Ivey's big blind. Ivey called. Flop was A-Q-x. Both players checked the flop and turn when rags fell. Joe bet out on the river. Ivey folded. Joe showed 9-4o. Ivey slid off his headphones and Joe said, "I'm sharing a room with Andy Black. I know how to play you."

2:20pm... Recent Elimination: Josh Arieh has been eliminated. His 8-8 ran into the Hilton Sisters.

2:25pm... CJ scooped this blurb. Stormy was ticked off that a guy in an Ultimate Bet hockey jersey bothering players and walking around inside the ropes. He did not have a press badge and Stormy asked the floor to have the badge-less man removed. The floor agreed and asked the man in the UB jersey to leave. That guy was... Phil Hellmuth. Way to go Stormy! Stormy 1, Phil Hellmuth 0.

Adam "Stormy" Stormwind aka Hellmuth Hunter

2:30pm... Humberto Brenes won a pot with A-A and now has over $250K. He asked the ESPN crew, "Do you know how to say 'shark' in Spanish?" They shrugged their shoulder. He smiled and said, "Humerto!"

2:40pm... Recent Elimination: The Quiet Lion hit the rail when his Hiltons lost a race to Big Slick.

2:50pm... Recent Elimination: Carlos Mortensen and Phil Ivey are out. Ivey flopped a straight flush draw and missed. Joe Hachem and Tom McEvoy are the remaining former champs left in the field.

3:15pm... Players are about to go on break. One floor guy that I trust told me there are 915 platers remaining.

3:20pm... Bouncin Round the Room: Spectators are not allowed inside and they are lining up in the corridors in front of entrances waiting to get in. Some of them are asking me questions like, "Is Doyle Brunson still in? How about Dutch Boyd?" Marcel Luske is out in the hallway taking photos with fans. I walked up behind him twice and did the devil's horns behind his head. In the documentary Bittersweet Motel about the band Phish (shot just before digital cameras came out), there's a scene where the band talks about how they fucked with fans during an European tour when fans run up and ask to take photos with them. The tour manager grabs the camera and purposely cuts the heads off and angles the camera down. These days you can't do that with digital cameras.

"Welcome to the World Series of Assholes." - Tom Murphy after getting yelled at by a floor guy for doing his job

4:00pm... We're on Level 13. Blinds are $1K/$2K with $300 antes.

4:05pm... I got this email from Harrah's: "While in the WSOP tournament area, please be advised that apparel containing logos for any dot com gaming sites must be covered with a dot net sticker. These stickers are located inside the media centers and inside the tournament room (podium located in middle of tournament room). If you require any assistance, please see a representative of the staff. We appreciate your cooperation."

4:15pm... Recent Elimination: Layne Flack is out when his 8-8 ran into Kings and Aces. He walked off as ESPN's crew filmed him, which got him more pissed off.

4:20pm... Smoke break.

4:40pm... Recent Elimination: My main man Freddy Deeb hits the rail.

4:45pm... The bubble appraoches and all the red badge media are banned from the floor until the bubble bursts. Instead of playing hand for hand, the table will play a full orbit then wait for all of the other tables to complete their orbit, then they'll continue this routine until the bubble breaks.

4:53pm... 878 players remain. We're five off the bubble.

5:00pm... 3 more players until the money.

5:15pm... Allen Cunningham is on a tear. Flipchip picked him to win before the WSOP began. "I have a feeling about the kid," Flipchip said. He's seen him develop over the last few years into one of the more consistent players on the circuit. He's jumped into the Top 5 in chips. Jason Strasser and Dimitri Nobles are still at the head of the pack.

5:30pm... The money bubble broke! All players will win at least $14,597. Ryan and Tuscaloosa Johnny all made the money. I have 1% of Ryan, which means I'm gonna get at least $145 of my $200 investment back. the next money jump is at 819 players. The next level of payout will go up to $15,504.

6:05pm... Dimitri Nobles has 525K. Jason Strasser has 460K. Humberto Brenes has 400K. 5 of the top 6 chipleaders at this point are PokerStars guys.

6:15pm... Around 730 players remain. As soon as the bubble burst all the short stacks moved all in, which clogged up the cashout line.

6:30pm... Ryan has a little under 100K. Tom McEvoy has 91K. Stormy has 20K and holding on.

6:35pm... Bouncin' Round the Room: Once the money buble broke, players were told they could not listen to music on headphones. They had the same rule last year. I almost ran into Robert Varkonyi who was on his cellphone. I considered hip-checking him into the payout area. One kid on the rail told his friend, "This is the boringest fuckin' thing I've ever been to."

6:44pm... Recent Eliminations: Here's a formal list. The following players won $14,597:

6:46pm... Recent ELimiantions: Daniel Larrson is out. Tuscaloosa Johnny and Matt Maroon went out on the same hand! Maroon had Q-Q and Tuscaloosa Johnny had K-K. They both ran into A-A, which held up. Great run guys. Congrats for cashing. Live poker is sooo rigged.

7:00pm... Players are on dinner break. Around 750 are left. I'm heading to the Tilted Kilt with Wil, Ryan, and Change100.

8:30pm... We're back from dinner break. We're on Level 14. Blinds are $1,200/$2,400 with $300 antes. We're playing two more levels (max) or until we get down to 550 players... whichever comes first.

9:15pm... Ryan was moved to Daniel Negreanu's table. He has 116K.

9:30pm... Recent Eliminations: Stuart "Donator" Patterson and Peter "Nordberg" Feldman are out. 667 players remain. Yes I know that there's a problem with the payout list. I'm just passing along the information that I get.

10:30pm... Ryan has 95K. Stormy has 22K. Negreanu took a big hit and slipped to 25K. Joe Hachem went on a little bit of tilt when he mucked A-K to a guy who pushed all in with A-Q. He slipped to under 100K for the first time today. Tom McEvoy has 110K. The average stack is $142K.

10:45pm... Recent Eliminations: Players are busting out faster than I can keep up. When players bust out they are shuffled off to a waiting area near the cash game tables, where they have to sit until they are porcessed and all the paperwork is filled out.

11:45pm... Recent Elimination: Dario Minieri is out. Dario pushed all in with A-K and Dimitri flopped a set with 3-3. Dario Minieri, the Magic player from Rome (who CardPlayer had listed as Roma Dario for three days) has been elimianted. Dimitri is in control with 770K. He's the first player to reach 3/4 million in chips.

11:50pm... Funny Quote: Tom Murphy heard this one while he was sweating one of his Irish players. One guy sucked out on another after the kid made a horrible call preflop and post flop. The pissed off player stormed off before he bared at the kid, "Where the fuck do you play? Party Poker?"

12:00am... Dimitri Young Nobles took a hit. He's got 540K. Rizen is on a run. he's second in chips.

12:03am... Recent Eliminations: A few more including Tony Bloom and John Gale.

12:22am... We're playing 34 more minutes tonight and that's it. Stormy is hold on with 31K. Tom McEvoy has 125K Ryan has a little over 100K. There's about 500 or so players left and everyone left is super tired. Despite the day off, this has been one of the most exhausting days so far at the WSOP.

12:30am... Joe Hachem has under 90K. He was moved to Ted Forrest's table.

12:50am... Recent Eliminations: The Dragon has been slayed. David Pham hits the rail as more big named pros are dropping like flies. Phil Hellmuth has been hanging around the Rio all day, like that loser college guy who comes by and hangs out at highschool during winter break.

1:01am... Play is over for the night. Ryan and Stormy made it to Day 4. There are less than 483 players remaining. Before the day was over, Ryan was moved to the feature table... with Annie Duke and Mark Vos. Ryan has 103K. Dimitri Nobles had $650K to end the day. He's among the chipleaders. David Chui had well over $600K. Joe Hachem has $140K. Action will resume at Noon on Saturday.